H.C. McEntire strips down the twangy country-rock she honed with Mount Moriah and infuses it with the punk-inspired candor a la Bellfea on her debut solo album, LIONHEART. Today she premieres the record’s sensitive lead single, “A Lamb, A Dove.” The song speaks of finding love and finding god as a queer woman; McEntire sings over gospel-like harmonies, “I have found heaven in a woman’s touch.” Along with the rest of the album, this track aims to subvert the heteronormative culture that surrounds country music and reclaim the art from a heritage that widely rejects queer individuals. McEntire speaks on the album:

In music, there are no rules. You make your own language. You can be both the Southern rock outlier and the twangy gospel conduit. You can be both the cherubic, honey-tongued innocent and the ardent punk. To get here — to find my lion heart — I had to become them all.

Listen to “A Lamb, A Dove” below.

LIONHEART is out 1/26 via Merge Records. Pre-order it here.